


Unexpected Grace

by words_reign_here



Series: The Beginning After The End [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fluffy, M/M, domestic stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-02
Updated: 2013-03-02
Packaged: 2017-12-04 01:17:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/704822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/words_reign_here/pseuds/words_reign_here
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An unexpected visitor turns everyone's world upside down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unexpected Grace

It was a dark and stormy night and Cas had just settled into Dean's embrace when they heard something slamming against the lair's doors. It shook the entire compound and Dean was out of bed with the demon killing knife in his hands and Cas was next to him, shotgun against his shoulder. They opened their bedroom door slowly and peered down the hall to see Sam already armed as well. Dean signaled that he would go first, Sam would sneak around the library and Cas would cover Dean.

They crept closer to the entrance and were stopped for a moment, glancing at each other. Dean signaled once again that Sam would cover their rear, Cas would cover above Dean's head and Dean would sweep below. This was not their first rodeo.

Dean pulled the door open, dropping to a knee and Cas stood above him. Sam had their back to them so he wasn't able to see what they saw right away.

"Oh." Cas said softly, like he had before when he was studying quantum physics. Like suddenly, the world was explained. In one small, tiny formula, his life had suddenly made sense.

"Who the hell- Why- What the hell, man?" Dean said, dropping the knife with a clatter to the ground.

Cas leaned his shotgun next to the door and watched without surprise as Dean stripped off his shirt and reached forward. Sam turned to see his brother shirtless and Cas looking as though his Father had told him once more the conditions of his fall. He looked like he had just fallen in love all over again.

When Dean turned, Sam noted that his anti-possession tattoo needed to be touched up. He noted the small bruise on Dean's collarbone that was mostly likely from Cas. He noted that his brother's shirt was bundled very, very carefully in his arms. And then he saw one small, tiny fist touch his brother's chin.

"Dean. Dean." Sam dropped his own shotgun to the ground. "Is that- Dean." Sam cleared his throat. "Tell me what that is."

"Sammy, it's girl."

"A baby?! Dean. Dean! Is that a baby?" Sam managed to squeak out.

"And they call him the smart one." Dean said to the small bundle in his arms. "Yes, it's a baby girl." Dean said, his voice laden with sarcasm.

"Where did she come from?" Sam asked, looking out the door.

"We know just as much as you, Sam." Cas said, peering over Dean's shoulder. "She's beautiful." He reached around Dean's shoulder and placed his thumb on her forehead and stroked gently. "She's a newborn."

"We need- we need to call someone." Sam said, running his hands over his face.

"Who, Sam?"

"The police?" Sam asked

"So they can put her in a home full of unwanted kids? No, I don't think so. She's here for a reason. I'll leave it to the two of you to find out why. Maybe, Sam, you could call Gabriel? See if he knows anything?" Dean smirked at the strange look that skipped across his brother's face. "Cas, can you see if there are any demon tests we can do on someone this small?"

Sam nodded and turned back to the library. He sat at the table and lowered his head in prayer. Dean turned his back to his brother to offer some privacy and Cas was watching his speculatively.

"What?" Dean asked, pulling the baby closer.

"It's a good look on you." Cas said and went to the library.

It would be a lie if the small comment from his angel didn't warm him.

After hours of searching and waiting on Gabriel, the guys finally gave up. What they did decide on was bathing the small child in warm holy water. She stared at the three of them with wide blue eyes, trust brimming from her.

"We are going to need some stuff." Sam said, after awhile.

"A lot of stuff." Dean agreed.

Sam went on the first midnight run of many. Diapers, formula, blankets, small outfits that were way too girly for Dean's tastes and a cradle. A very small, very pink cradle.

By the time he had gotten back, he peeked in on the baby that had unofficially taken over Dean and Cas' room. Dean lay on his back, one arm slung up over his head, the baby asleep on his chest. Her small fist was directly over his tattoo. Cas lay next to him, one hand on the baby's back. He saw Sam and gave him a small smile. Sam smiled broadly back and waved Cas from the room. Once in the library, Sam laid out all the things he had just bought.

"She is so small, Sam. She's fragile." Cas told him worriedly after they had gone through the purchases. Sam stifled a yawn and nodded. "Yeah, that's how us humans come."

The line in between Cas' eyebrows was what Dean called DefCon one. It meant Cas was really, really worried about something.

"Hey, listen. We'll talk to Gabriel as soon as we can get his feathery ass down here and figure out what's going on. In the meantime, don't worry about it. Dean has plenty of experience with kids."

"But she's a baby, Sam. An infant. What does one do with an infant?"

"I have a feeling you are going to find out, Cas. Just follow Dean's lead. He won't lead you wrong. Now, come on. We won't be getting a lot of sleep in the months ahead."

Truer words had never been spoken. The baby woke up four times that night just to be fed and changed. It was in their favor that, as hunters, they were used to little or no sleep. Cas, even after his fall, didn't require more than an hour or two for five or six days at a stretch.

They all fell asleep around six that morning and woke up three hours later to a warm kitchen and the Beatles playing on the record player again. As Sam stumbled into the kitchen in desperate search for coffee, he barely noticed the heap of double chocolate chip cookies, the sweet espresso shoved into his hands and a cinnamon roll placed in front of him.

It took him several moments to realize that Gabriel sat in front of him, happily munching on both pancakes and a roll and a couple more minutes before he could say, "Gabriel?"

Gabriel raised his coffee cup in salute and swallowed before looking around. "So, where is she?"

"She?" Sam asked stupidly, still trying to process the archangel in front of him, drinking coffee and eating a sweet roll like it was something they did every morning.

"The sweet little baby that heralded her homecoming like a tornado. You know, the baby?"

Dean stumbled in right then, still shirtless with his gym shorts slung low over his hips. He glanced at Gabriel and offered a small smirk. Gabriel and Dean had long ago buried the hatchet over Gabriel killing Dean over a hundred times.

"Hey, Gabe. Finally pick up your angel radio?"

"Coffee is on the counter and there is a little bit of everything-"

"Everywhere." Dean finished up, glancing around the kitchen. "She isn't quite ready for pancakes though, man. She needs a bottle."

"Fridge." Gabe said around a mouthful of pancakes.

Dean gave him a grateful look when he saw the ready made bottle and shifted the baby to his other arm and started to warm up the bottle in the microwave.

"My brother around?" Gabe asked nonchalantly, watching Sam out of the corner of his mouth. He knew where Cas was but he enjoyed human conversation. Couldn't get enough of it, actually.

"Yeah, he's coming out." Dean muttered, pulling the bottle from the microwave.

"I thought we had done that already." Gabe snickered at his own joke and was rewarded with a cough from Sam who tried to hide his own smile unsuccessfully.

"Asshole." Cas said cheerfully from the hallway. It was his favorite profanity and most used against Gabriel.

"Great! The entire family is here. Now, you want to know what this little lady is all about?" Gabriel asked.

"You know?" Dean asked, pulling out a chair and settling in. Gabriel disappeared and reappeared at Dean's elbow and peered down at the baby. He whistled long and low and said, "Mikey wasn't lying. She shines brighter than any other mortal I've encountered."

"Michael?" Sam asked.

"What does Michael know about her?" Dean asked, his voice already lowering to a growl.

"Just what I know."

"Which is?" Sam prodded.

"Everything."

Cas sighed heavily from his vantage point at the other end of the table. "Gabriel." He scolded.

"All right, fine. So here's the thing, o Righteous One." He said turning to Dean. "You are the most favored of my Father's creations. No matter what He threw your way, you came out on the right and more often than not, winning."

"Ok..."

"And, the thing about Daddy is that He knows you. He knows you better than anyone. He knows that when you and Cas had a talk a couple months back about having a family you lied when you said you would be ok with not having kids."

"Dean!" Cas said.

"Well, ok, he didn't lie, Cas. But he figure, you rebelled against Heaven and fell he could sacrifice this one small thing. Just a tiny thing, after all. You gave up forever in paradise for him. And Dean-o here was on the right track. But you know Dad. Sometimes, good things do happen." Gabriel smirked. "So, this little lady here. She is all yours. And the beauty of it, is that she is _actually_ yours."

"But, wait, how?" Sam asked.

"Castiel's Grace. It was energy, just like a human soul. When he fell, it had nowhere else to go. Now, Dad, He considered putting that energy into a different angel, but instead waited. And waited. And when He heard Dean's thoughts, I guess He just went for it. This sweet girl here is made up Castiel's Grace and a small part of Dean's soul that God had kept near his side since he first crafted Dean into the Righteous Man. He told me that it was the one part of Dean's soul that was at peace."

"So, she is actually-" Dean started and then stopped. He stared at the wall opposite him and blinked at him.

"Your soul and Castiel's Grace, Dean." Gabriel said softly. "She is all yours. All your own. No one but the three of you can lay claim to her."

Dean looked down at her. She blinked big blue eyes up at him and when he pulled the empty bottle from her mouth, she reached up at him and caught his chin once again.

"Cas, baby. I think I'm in love." Dean whispered.

"Yeah, you are, buddy." Gabriel laughed, long and loud. The baby blinked slowly up at Gabriel and for a moment, even Gabe was struck dumb by her gaze.

"Let me baptize her." Gabriel said suddenly. He turned to Dean and then back to Cas. "Please?"

Dean would learn later how important it was for the archangels to perform this rite of passage and that Gabriel had longed for this one thing since he had learned what his Father was doing. While they set everything up, they heard another swish of wings behind them.

"Get out of here, Mikey. They said I got to do it." Gabriel grumbled, glancing behind them.

"I am here only to observe, Gabriel, let me assure you."

It was still a shock seeing Michael in Adam's form and Dean had to repress a shudder.

They started only minutes later, with the men gathered around the small chalice that Gabriel had blessed. They made a circle around the small baby and Gabriel cooed at her as he held her sweet weight in his arms.

"Castiel, I would like to do this in Enochian. The translation... it's rough. For the full effect, Enochian is the best." Gabriel said softly. Michael nodded sagely but did not offer any advice otherwise.

"Yes, Gabriel, please." Castiel said.

And Gabriel prayed. His words were like a song sung in the heart of Heaven and Sam wiped at his face throughout the entire ceremony. Michael was the only one to be able to give back the proper reply as Castiel was openly crying and Sam and Dean had no idea what to reply.

She fell asleep in the middle of the ceremony and did not awaken when Gabriel laid her in Cas' arms. Then without another word, he kissed his brother hard on the forehead, folded Dean in a much too forceful hug and kissed Sam briefly on the lips before Sam knew what was happening. He and Michael left but it would not be the last they saw from either one of them.

During lunch, they tossed around names. Finally, they decided on Sophia. "It means a love of knowledge." Cas said knowingly. Dean just thought it was pretty.

That afternoon found Sam at the store once more, puzzling over swings and bouncers and strollers. He already had his cart loaded up with diapers and onesies and more bottles than this kid could possibly need (and yeah, maybe he had tossed in a couple of dresses and pink, frilly things that he knew would piss Dean off, but what are brothers for?)

When he returned back home, he found Cas looking terribly confused at some directions and parts of a crib in front of him.

"Man, I would just leave that alone. That is so Dean's job."

"He is changing Sophie. What should I do?" Cas asked, frustrated.

"Go take that baby from him, Cas and tell him to put the crib together. After that, he can get started on the changing table, stroller and cradle." Sam said.

And just like he knew he would, Dean loved every minute of putting together things for his little girl. He relished sitting there with directions that made no sense and a screwdriver and pink EVERYTHING flung all around him.

They fell into an easy routine. Cas would get up at night with her. He didn't sleep anyway and even the smallest coo had him climbing out of bed to hold his baby. Dean would take over during the day and he would show her everything. Sam would take her when he needed some attention and damned if that little girl didn't love her uncle as much as her daddies.

 

To be continued...


End file.
